Yeah I can fly
by TraScully
Summary: Tony takes Pepper flying. Pepperony.


Yeah… I can fly

Yeah… I can fly.

By: TraScully.

Rating: K+.

Disclaimer: Yeah… I don't own anything.

Summary: Tony takes Pepper flying. Creative, eh?

Tony Stark sat in the middle of his floor, surrounded by random pieces of his Iron Man suit—a metal arm here, a shoe across the room, his faceplate upside-down on the table. The basement of his mansion has often been a mess, but today was particularly unorganized. Empty beer cans were scattered everywhere, among his collection of restored cars and in between high-tech pieces of equipment. Repairing his suit after the damage inflicted by Obadiah had been more difficult than he anticipated, and now two weeks later, he had finally finished.

"Jarvis!"

"Yes, sir?" The electronic voice replied, and Tony could have sworn he sounded bored.

"Can you tell me why you're not cleaning all this crap up for me?" He demanded in his half-rude, half-jokingly sarcastic manner, the one Pepper enjoyed bantering with. The A.I. replied by whirring to life and gathering pieces of his suit together as other robots swept away the beer cans and dusted off the countertops.

'Thank God,' he thought to himself, 'that's done with.' He'd been spending an average of 16 hours a day working on the repairs, and had forgotten what it felt like to be showered, well-fed, and fully awake. He'd also forgotten what a certain straight-laced redhead looked like—well maybe not, but he definitely wanted to see her now.

"Jarvis?"

"Yes, sir?" He replied, still rattling around in an effort to clean the floors and workbenches.

"Where's Pepper?"

After a few seconds of silence, the machine replied, "Miss Potts is currently upstairs in her office listening to Norah Jones while waiting for a fax. She seems to be in a good mood, and is singing along." Tony grinned.

"Have my suit ready when I get back." And with that, he left the room.

After a quick shower, Tony put on a clean white t-shirt and some jeans. Pepper had better appreciate him dressing up for her, he thought to himself with a grin as he crossed the living room and approached the open door of her office.

Jarvis was definitely correct, he thought to himself, about Pepper being in a good mood. She was sitting Indian-style on the leather couch next to her desk, barefooted. Her laptop sat (where else?) on her lap, and she was quietly singing along to "What Am I To You?" with a smile on her face.

She's beautiful, Tony thought to himself. Of course, this was no out-of-the-ordinary revelation, merely an observation of the obvious.

"Pepper?" He leaned his head in the doorway, resting his torso against the door frame lazily. She looked up from her computer and abruptly stopped singing. Her face went into professional mode.

"Yes, Mr. Stark?" she asked, raising her eyebrows in that professionally inquisitive way, as if she dreaded his next request.

"Are you busy?" he asked, somewhat childishly because excitement was steadily building up inside of his shrapnel-free heart.

This made Pepper suspicious, as it rightfully should have. Tony's "bright ideas" usually turned out either embarrassing, painful, dangerous, or a combination of the three.

Tony noticed her look of trepidation and decided to throw caution to the wind. It's not like his ideas had ever caused embarrassment, pain, or danger for anyone… why did she look so worried?

He crossed to room to her, bent down, and picked up her computer. Setting it down on the couch next to her, he grabbed both of her hands—which had been ostensibly folded across her chest (but he was careful with his hands)—and pulled her up so that she was standing right in front of him. A little closer than he had anticipated.

He quickly took a small step backwards, not wanting to make her uncomfortable at their close proximity, as he glanced down at her feet.

"You're gonna need shoes for this."

She narrowed her eyes at him, gave an exasperated sigh, and slipped back into her black pumps. Her eyes were not even with his nose, instead of his chin.

The glass doors opened, and Tony and Pepper entered the basement lab. Just as Tony had requested, his suit was assembled and waiting in the center of the room. He turned to Pepper and gave her an encouraging wink and smile before jogging over to the suit.

"Okay, Jarvis. Let's do this."

Machines creaked to live, the floor divided into sections, and the pieces of his Iron Man suit slowly attached to his body. In no time, he was fully armored. Holding the faceplate up so his face remained uncovered, he crossed the room to stand in front of Pepper. She looked slightly alarmed, eyes wide and lips slightly parted.

"What's wrong, Potts?" he asked, curious. She seemed to snap out of a daze.

"Oh—oh, nothing. Are you… um… going on a mission?" She choked out uncomfortably, averting her eyes to his arc-reactor, glowing bright blue. Tony couldn't help but wonder if Pepper Potts was actually worried for his safety, a thought which had never really occurred to him.

"Actually, seeing as there are no Stark weapons to be destroyed at the moment, I was thinking about taking a leisurely flight around the Malibu sky," he replied with a grin.

She rolled her eyes, but looked relieved nonetheless. "What do you need my help for, Tony? You dragged me down here away from my faxes and e-mails and finance reports, all of which need to be finished _tonight_…"

"Pepper, have you ever flown?"

"Tony, unless your memory has been seriously damaged, you will undoubtedly remember millions of plane trips we have made to events, demonstrationg, meetings--"

He cut her off. "No… I mean flying _without_ the airplane."

His grin spread to his cheeks and eyes as he scooped her up, one hand securely around her shoulders and the other at the back of her knees. The last time he'd carried her like this, he remembered, was after she'd been working for him about 3 months. One of his projects had, let's say, malfunctioned—and broken her ankle in the process. She never even cried, which still impressed him.

So here he was again, carefully holding her in his arms as she protested against his idea. As usual.

"Tony! I swear, if you don't put me down IMMEDIATELY, I will rip that strato-magnet-THING out of your chest so fast--"

"Pepper, just relax—it is _natural_ to be afraid of heights. It's a common phobia, and I think the name starts with an A--"

"Anthony Stark, you know FULL WELL that I am NOT afraid of heights, I just don't think it's a good idea to go FLYING AROUND the skies of Malibu in the arms of some crazy superhero--"

"Pepper Potts, I suggest you stop arguing and hold on tight," he threatened with a, evil grin, slamming his helmet closed and blasting down the exit tunnel. He emerged from his concrete basement with a cry of excitement, coupled with Pepper's screams of terror.

He climbed a few hundred feet above the mansion, then hovered at a constant altitude and glanced down at Pepper—and burst out in laughter. She had wrapped her arms around his neck in a death grip, and her face was pressed against his metal chestplate.

"Pepper."

She groaned something and refused to open her eyes or look at him.

He used his arms to shake her a little. No response.

'So, we're doing this the stubborn way…' he thought to himself. Hovering a few feet higher, he enacted his evil plan: he let go of her.

Of course she didn't fall—she screamed bloody murder and latched onto him even tighter, now hanging only from his shoulders, her feet dangling just above his. Her face was now directly in front of his mask, and she was angry.

"TONY. STARK. Are you trying to KILL ME?!" She yelled at him.

The magnification mechanism in his face plate meant that Tony was currently looking at Pepper's face closer than he ever had before. Her bright, clear blue eyes seemed to have gold specks in them, and there was a trail of freckles leading across her cheeks that he followed with his eyes.

Evidently, this made him forget that she was yelling at him.

"Tony, my arms are killing me! PLEASE hold me up!" she finally demanded in a non-yelling voice. He snapped out of his reverie and wrapped his arms back around her, which made them both feel a little more comfortable.

"Let's go higher," she requested with excitement in her gold-speckled eyes. He grinned at her, although she couldn't see it.

"So, now that Pouty, Petrified Pepper has conquered her fears, she's a daredevil? Alright, Miss Potts, we can definitely go higher."


End file.
